The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

Let's hope H_P is doing fine. His dragon needs some cheering up.

Another cool sunny morning with highs in the mid 80s today. The grass is starting to go brown so we really need the rain that is not in the forecast anytime soon.

There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is hot. There are donuts and cookies on the counter. I'm going to make another apple crisp today so if there is any left, I'll bring it in tomorrow.

The doctor told me that the use of Meloxicam doesn't seem to be hurting me so I'm going to keep taking it. He's going to monitor my kidney and liver functions closely to ensure it doesn't start hurting me. So, I'll be over in the corner working on my story, feeling pretty good overall. Feel free to stop by and chat.
 
We have a calm, sunny morning that is supposed to lead us to a cloudier afternoon with a high in the 80Fs and rain in the evening. I'm going to take time this morning to freeze some chopped New Mexico chile.

I'm waiting to see how this morning's contest sweeps work out. My story isn't competitive, but my hope since early on has been that it might get the score and vote count necessary to make the Toys & Masturbation top list. A sweep over night removed the only 1* vote on the story, and it's currently listed at something like 239 (of 250) on the all-time list. The risk going into the last sweeps is that it will end up with less than the 100 votes needed to make the list.

I sketched out the idea that could eventually make a Holiday story and realized that there was nothing in the story that makes me want to write it. As it stands, it's a stroker with a setup. That could be popular, but it doesn't motivate me.

More brainstorming is called for.
 
My PT wants me to get a second opinion. She has had arguments with that surgeon in the past when he said no and another surgeon said yes with good results.
 
The grass is starting to go brown so we really need the rain that is not in the forecast anytime soon.

Yesterday's "drought report" had us in the "severe" category. I'm now watering the small stand of cypress I planted last spring; they're evidently not as well-established as I thought they would be after five months. Already lost one, but it wasn't doing well from the nursery. Today's lunch run will be a trip to Menards to pickup a couple of soaker hoses.

Taking advantage of the too-dry weather, C is over at our studio this morning (hopefully) painting exterior door frames that were overdue. When buying the paint we asked for "the most durable exterior paint you offer." $65/gallon. Okay. Whatever. Wow. That sh!t had better be strong enough to break a bulldozer.
 
Green chile is chopped and frozen.

Right at the end of the contest sweeps, the rating on my contest story dropped by 0.01 with no net change in the number of votes. That dropped the story off the all-time list. It was sweet while it lasted.
 
We just had a bit of excitement in kitty land here. Our two cats have been paying rapt attention to the vent at the bottom of the fireplace all evening. Several times, the younger cat looked ready to pounce, but never pulled the trigger.

The older cat, who generally doesn't move that well anymore, suddenly pounced a little bit ago. When my SO went over to see what was up, the cat growled and then we could see the tail hanging out of her mouth. Apparently there was a mouse in there they could hear. The older cat moved away from us again, growling if we got close. A few crunches later, and the mouse was no more. The younger cat had never managed to pull the trigger on her pounce. Sometimes, us oldsters can pull the rug out from under the youngsters.
 
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Our two boy pound cats wouldn't know what to do with a mouse. One of them might play with it. The other would probably ignore it. I once saw a mouse run under it to hide. They hunt the mighty kibble.

The little girl we adopted from outside would feast.
 
I noticed that my recent contest story in Toys & Masturbation had the same number of views as my story in Romance for this year's Pink Orchid event, so I thought I'd compare them.

___________ T&M ___ Romance
views _____ 23.2k _ 23.2k
votes _____ 108 ___ 307
favorites _ 5 _____ 28
comments __ 4 _____ 26


You wouldn't guess by looking at that, but the T&M story has a higher rating than the Romance story.
 
Does anybody else find that coffee spurs on their ability to write? Or at least string words together not quite randomly?
 
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Despite giving my most central character in my writing a coffee fixation, I can't actually stand the stuff. do drink tea by the gallon, hot and iced. But I have been surprised how much I can enjoy things vicariously through my characters that have little to no appeal to me. Lesbian is not my taste IRL, but I love writing the scenes for a lesbian character, because I understand how much they are enjoying it. And I love the emotional content that is kind of the hallmark of LS (as I mentioned in another thread).

For me personally, I always appreciate @Candy_Kane54 putting on the tea kettle. And all those delicious goodies she bakes.

My cat is still strutting around like a tom whose neighbor was in heat last night. She is 14, overweight, diabetic (insulin shots twice a day) and has bad arthritis, but none of that matters right now. She got that mouse and the young whippersnapper didn't.
 
I wrote over 1000 words this morning in a coffee shop, before getting distracted and chatting to a vivacious old lady for half an hour.

It's proper autumnal here, going from gorgeous sunshine and 25 degrees to freezing torrential rain and back multiple times over the last few days, plus a bunch of thunderstorms. Even had the heating kick in briefly. Conkers are carpeting the grass verge outside the nearest park. Time to make some stew, I think.

I tend to need a hot drink in my hands to stop my hands seizing up. Usually coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoons, decaf after 4pm, mint tea in the evenings. May have a hot chocolate with a movie tonight.
 
It's another cool sunny morning with highs in the mid 80s later today. With the weather we've had lately, we're going to have a very colorful fall.

There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the tea pot is steaming. There are donuts and muffins on the counter. There's also some buttermilk biscuits and a hot pot of sausage gravy if you want something hot for breakfast. I didn't get around to making the apple crisp yesterday so I'll make sure to do it today.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story. It's going to go long but it will grab you and you won't be able to put it down until you finish it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Stop by and say hi.
 
It's another cool sunny morning with highs in the mid 80s later today. With the weather we've had lately, we're going to have a very colorful fall.

There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the tea pot is steaming. There are donuts and muffins on the counter. There's also some buttermilk biscuits and a hot pot of sausage gravy if you want something hot for breakfast. I didn't get around to making the apple crisp yesterday so I'll make sure to do it today.

I'll be over in the corner working on my story. It's going to go long but it will grab you and you won't be able to put it down until you finish it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Stop by and say hi.
mmmm.... biscuits and gravy, yum
 
I've never even heard of chocolate gravy
I think it's a southern thing. I never heard of it till I moved south.

Basically you mix coco powder, sugar, (salt and vanilla are optional) flour, and water and or milk together on the stove until you have a hot chocolate sauce with the consistency of gravy. Then you serve it over biscuits. Usually for breakfast, but my SO likes making it for dinner with a side of eggs.

We don't have it so much these days though.
 
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